I have a question about feeding my Oscar’s. Currently they are each about 4 inches and I have 2. I use hikari gold mini sinking pellets they are the 3.0 - 3.4 mm variety. I’m concerned that I might be feeding them too much I feed each of them twice a day and I feed them each 10 pellets per feeding. Does anyone have any thoughts in this amount of food? Is it too much or should I keep feeding them this amount? I have them in a 55 gallon while I’m cycling my 180 gallon tank. Thanks and I appreciate any advice!
Help feeding my Oscar’s!
- Thread starter coryuo1986
- Start date
Oscars will beg and eat until their stomach look like it's about to burst. Most pellets I believe swell when wet. Tbh if each Oscar is eating the same amount equally I don't think that's bad.
Just something to consider....
One of the reasons fish don't stop eating when being "overfed", is in nature they may not eat every day, or even every 2 or even 3 days, they live, and have evolved to live in a feast or famine world.
That instinct to gorge doesn't disappear just because they are in an aquarium.
As an example, when a group of insect larvae seasonally hatch out in nature, fish gorge, but once the hatching is done, they may get a healthy "fast" a couple days.
In nature, oscars primarily eat aquatic insects, and insects that fall in the water, and crustaceans, this is not constant.
In my tanks, I might feed for 2 days, but then not feed the 3rd day, to allow the fishes gut to purge.
One of the causes of common intestinal maladies in fish may be overfeeding.
But beyond that, degraded water quality that can come from overfeeding and then, "not" doing a sufficient water change routine to compensate for nitrate buildup can also contribute to disease like HITH.
One of the reasons fish don't stop eating when being "overfed", is in nature they may not eat every day, or even every 2 or even 3 days, they live, and have evolved to live in a feast or famine world.
That instinct to gorge doesn't disappear just because they are in an aquarium.
As an example, when a group of insect larvae seasonally hatch out in nature, fish gorge, but once the hatching is done, they may get a healthy "fast" a couple days.
In nature, oscars primarily eat aquatic insects, and insects that fall in the water, and crustaceans, this is not constant.
In my tanks, I might feed for 2 days, but then not feed the 3rd day, to allow the fishes gut to purge.
One of the causes of common intestinal maladies in fish may be overfeeding.
But beyond that, degraded water quality that can come from overfeeding and then, "not" doing a sufficient water change routine to compensate for nitrate buildup can also contribute to disease like HITH.
As long as they eat with no distress or bloating I wouldn't worry about it. They're juvies/growing and likely will burn it off. Mine did, he was an eating machine at that size.